What's Blooming in the Office? A Big Kiss

In addition to bringing home a few ribbons from the Treasure Valley Orchid Society Show & Sale this month, I also brought home a few new orchids! Imagine that.            

Vendors from the Northwest and even from Ecuador showed up to sell plants and supplies to this year's enthusiastic crowd.

I couldn’t resist the orchid at right when I read its nametag: Rth. Big Kiss #15. And now that it's in bloom, it smells as luscious as it looks.

I didn’t give much thought to how to care for the plant until I realized I’d never before seen the ‘Rth.’ designation. That sent me on another research tangent.

Orchid taxonomy is a combination of science, whimsy and ego unlike anything I’ve seen. This article from the American Orchid Society offers the basics of orchid naming.

Many plants are named for a long-ago person who discovered or became famous for growing them; hybrids might be combinations of their parents’ names with a cute flair (The popular Oncidiums, Sharry Baby and Twinkle Pinkie, come to mind.)

Sometimes, a name even falls out of favor and is officially changed, as with Schomburgkia.

So, there are thousands of orchid names! (Just take a look at this list.) And my ‘Rth.’ Is a Rhyncattleanthe. From my research, it appears to be a cross between a Rhyncholaelia and a Cattlianthe (Cattleya X Guarianthe). Who added the "Big Kiss," or the "#15," and why? I'll most likely never know.

In fact, I’ll probably never get the hang of the naming ritual. As a hobbyist, I just want to know whether it needs lots of water or a little, how much sunlight, and so on.

For now, I’m planning to treat it like a Cattleya and see what happens. Here’s hoping that isn’t the Big Kiss – of death  – for this fragrant beauty.